format: Mini-LP
year: 1987
country: Sweden
label: Dolphin Records
#: DLRM 8701
info: -
style: Heavy Metal, Hard Rock
Side A:
After producing a similar-loking but chromatically inverted EP the year before (against better judgement, as it should have fit more as a demo, or, at best a 7") HAZY managed to churn out a genuinely great and proper Classic Melodic Swedish Metal relase before fading away into obscurity forever. Now, I'm well aware that people's definitions and expectations of 'Melodic Swedish Metal' do differ a lot, so I'll elaborate some:
There are absolutely zero happy-pop-'metal' tendencies in Hazy's brand of HR/HM. Instead they focus on mood, atmosphere and that trademark Swedish melancholy in their songwriting. Even in the softest of the 4 featured tracks, opener "King Of The Universe" they manage to veer away from this most common of Swedish pitfalls and despite its lightness of the weight it's an absolute gem in the Dio/Rainbow-school of melo-HM. "Captive Of The Law" continues on this sturdy path, though slightly heavier, but it's on the B-side that we find treasure. "Polar Knights" (Perfect Swedish Metal Title!) is a beautiful, mid-pace heavy rocker with consistently somber melodies, though the closing "Scientist" is their true prize jewel and also the heaviest of the featured tracks. Curiously it bares some similarities to US melodic Steel like Crimson Glory or early Queensryche and it hints on the possibility that this band might have had quite an extraordinary Power(ish) Metal full-lenght in them if destiny had taken a different path.
With the ever growing popularity and rediscovery of old Swedish acts on the melodic fringe like Universe, Blacksmith and Proud I sincerely hope that more fans and collectors will turn their gaze towards Hazy, as they were surely as formidable as those contenders - at least on this 2nd and final release. Completists might also want to hunt down the local "Double Up" 2LP compilation from the same year, featuring an excellent live version of "King Of The Universe".